IT IS JUST COMMON SENSE
The Springfield News Leader, our local newspaper, often comments and supports what is happening in our area in a column on the opinion page called "OUR VOICE". The column begins with these words:
In the Ozarks, folks like to use plain common sense to deal with issues — as we note in this regular editorial feature on “common sense” solutions.
Common sense is a phrase that is often used to describe the obvious or in the words of my late mother, "it is as plain as day" or "as plain as the nose on your face." This is how I feel about the meaning of life. I have read the philosophers and I get lost in the words and detailed explanations. I have studied the theologians and I get hung up on the meaning of the word "is". The dogmas, tenets, creeds, and rituals load me down with guilt as I seek to understand but I don't feel or get the result that I have been told I should have. I listened to the politicians who tell me this law will solve the problem, yet the "New Deal", "The Great Society", and "Reaganomics" have not resolved the problems they intended to cure.
My mother, the plain spoken Southern Woman, and I often had discussions on the meaning of life. I miss you mom and your wisdom. For someone who had only a ninth grade education, she helped understand life more than all the studies I have done. After my divorce in 1988, mom told me "Son, the only person you can change is you. Your wife is the mother of your children. Be thankful for her and never downgrade her to your children."
In one of many discussions on the Bible and life, mom said, "Son, it is as plain as the nose on your face. Life is about relationships." I had heard that in a class on Biblical Ethics at Welch College. Professor Forlines taught us there are four basic relationships: God, others, self, and the creation (the universe).
In my search for understanding, I keep coming back to this. If life is about relationships, then meaning becomes relation rather than absolute. Absolutes are defined as universal principles that transcend time, place, events, and persons. Relativity infers connection. The outcome of an event or person depends on the relationship of those involved. Outcomes are determined by reactions based on choices made by those involved in the relationship or external stimuli that causes a change in the size, makeup, and quality of the relationship.
Hurricane Katrina was an external event that caused reactions of those who lived in its path as well as those who did not live in its path. My relationship with my family influenced what I believe and how I lived for many years. The one great absolute the Creator made concerns the relationships we have. The universal principle that life is about relationships is the guiding force of all that happens past, present, and future.
The Creator installed reason and free will so we can look at the experiences of life and make judgements on which we base on our actions. The gift of reason and free will leads us to trust or have faith in the universal principle of relationism or events occur based on choices made and actions taken as the creation interacts and exists in relationships.
In order to understand relationism, humanity has written sacred writings like the Bible, the Koran, the BHagavad Gita, and many others to explain how everything came into existence and how the relationship with God and others work. There is a mixture of natural law and legal law contained in these works with the understanding that all of these come from God. They all seem to have some principles that are similar. Sacred writings are therefore a source to use in understanding relationships. These writings are not inspired word for word by God. The Bible, for example, is a collection of books determined by those in the Jewish Faith and the Christian to be valid. Many manuscripts were omitted by the Councils who determined what is Scripture and what is not.
For this reason, Sacred Writings must be judged by the application of reason, experience, and the tradition (past history or what we have been taught). Reason must be judged by the application of sacred writings, experience, and tradition. They should all be given equal weight in determining what is true and what is not. This calls for us to recognize that truth is contained in all religions. As we examine the common beliefs in each religion, we will see the universal principles of relationships is based on the one absolute the Creator made. The meaning of life is about relationship: Our relationship with God, others, self, and the creation, the environment or the creation or the universe is just common sense.
We will explore this more on another day and at another time.
Think about it.
Roy
In the Ozarks, folks like to use plain common sense to deal with issues — as we note in this regular editorial feature on “common sense” solutions.
Common sense is a phrase that is often used to describe the obvious or in the words of my late mother, "it is as plain as day" or "as plain as the nose on your face." This is how I feel about the meaning of life. I have read the philosophers and I get lost in the words and detailed explanations. I have studied the theologians and I get hung up on the meaning of the word "is". The dogmas, tenets, creeds, and rituals load me down with guilt as I seek to understand but I don't feel or get the result that I have been told I should have. I listened to the politicians who tell me this law will solve the problem, yet the "New Deal", "The Great Society", and "Reaganomics" have not resolved the problems they intended to cure.
My mother, the plain spoken Southern Woman, and I often had discussions on the meaning of life. I miss you mom and your wisdom. For someone who had only a ninth grade education, she helped understand life more than all the studies I have done. After my divorce in 1988, mom told me "Son, the only person you can change is you. Your wife is the mother of your children. Be thankful for her and never downgrade her to your children."
"It is as plain as the nose on your face."
In one of many discussions on the Bible and life, mom said, "Son, it is as plain as the nose on your face. Life is about relationships." I had heard that in a class on Biblical Ethics at Welch College. Professor Forlines taught us there are four basic relationships: God, others, self, and the creation (the universe).
In my search for understanding, I keep coming back to this. If life is about relationships, then meaning becomes relation rather than absolute. Absolutes are defined as universal principles that transcend time, place, events, and persons. Relativity infers connection. The outcome of an event or person depends on the relationship of those involved. Outcomes are determined by reactions based on choices made by those involved in the relationship or external stimuli that causes a change in the size, makeup, and quality of the relationship.
Hurricane Katrina was an external event that caused reactions of those who lived in its path as well as those who did not live in its path. My relationship with my family influenced what I believe and how I lived for many years. The one great absolute the Creator made concerns the relationships we have. The universal principle that life is about relationships is the guiding force of all that happens past, present, and future.
The Creator installed reason and free will so we can look at the experiences of life and make judgements on which we base on our actions. The gift of reason and free will leads us to trust or have faith in the universal principle of relationism or events occur based on choices made and actions taken as the creation interacts and exists in relationships.
In order to understand relationism, humanity has written sacred writings like the Bible, the Koran, the BHagavad Gita, and many others to explain how everything came into existence and how the relationship with God and others work. There is a mixture of natural law and legal law contained in these works with the understanding that all of these come from God. They all seem to have some principles that are similar. Sacred writings are therefore a source to use in understanding relationships. These writings are not inspired word for word by God. The Bible, for example, is a collection of books determined by those in the Jewish Faith and the Christian to be valid. Many manuscripts were omitted by the Councils who determined what is Scripture and what is not.
For this reason, Sacred Writings must be judged by the application of reason, experience, and the tradition (past history or what we have been taught). Reason must be judged by the application of sacred writings, experience, and tradition. They should all be given equal weight in determining what is true and what is not. This calls for us to recognize that truth is contained in all religions. As we examine the common beliefs in each religion, we will see the universal principles of relationships is based on the one absolute the Creator made. The meaning of life is about relationship: Our relationship with God, others, self, and the creation, the environment or the creation or the universe is just common sense.
We will explore this more on another day and at another time.
Think about it.
Roy
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